only search W.R.W.W.     McGill Creek Walden's Ridge Tennessee                                                                  Coal Exploration Drilling-McGill Creek Waldens Ridge... Click on link to find out more               Hendon Rd to Coulterville Rd Class IV.8 7 Miles Max Gradient 270 fpm   Page 24 and 40 of your Gazetteer                                                              ToothPick Rapid   Video shot from Steep Creekin"                                                                    Water Quality (1 bad 3 good) acid mine run-off Slightly down stream the water quality improves, but the headwaters need to be taken care of. Scenery (1 bad 3 good)            Maps:   Watershed Map (to find location and size of creek) Click Here Special thanks to Steve Zerefos for making the map.   Driving Instructions From Google : Click Here   Topo Map: Click Here A special thanks to Randy Hale of NorthRiverGeographic for the map       River Description McGill Creek is the sister creek of Roaring Creek and you can almost perform the same shuttle for both . McGill is harder and it is advise to get Roaring under your belt first. The Put-in: The put-in is located at the small bridge on Hendon Rd .                                         This your put-in bridge. This picture was taken after driving over McGill Creek.                                           Here is how to find the put-in...leaving from Chattanooga or coming from Dayton Tennessee. Off of Hwy 27, look for Hwy 303. Left from Chatty, Right from Dayton. Hwy 303 is in Graysville TN. Take 303, then take a left onto Pikeville Ave, when in town.  Stay on Pikeville Ave. Follow the sidewalk, and double yellow  road, it bears to the right, don't go straight. Follow it... then it turns in Brayton Mnt Road for some reason. You will drive over Roaring Creek. Follow it out until you come to Hendon Rd...it will take you to the put-in bridge.   Alternate Put-In: Look for this gate when driving up the mountain as soon as you top the mountain. You will need a P.O.S. 4X4. Also note this road, it follows the gorge on river right, and this is your hike out road if things go bad. Sometimes the gate is open, sometimes it's closed. .                               The Take-out: *** DO NOT BLOCK ANY GATES AT THE TAKE OUT. TRY TO GET DRESSED AT HOME OR THE PUT-IN***. Take an extra set of clothes and leave them in the car at the bottom. The take-out is on Coulterville Rd right off Hwy 27, near the Hamilton county/Rhea county line and is a good place to meet up. I prefer 3 cars for the McGill shuttle ,you will drive over Roaring to leave one car and if  at McGill once you are at the put-in, and it looks too low, well you can punt and head over to Roaring Creek an not miss a beat.   This is the Coulterville sign which is easy to blow by...                                 This is the take-out bridge...                                                 The Gages:( and there are two we painted so hang tight while I explain why)   Here is an estimated correlation between the Coulterville gage and the North Chick U.S.G.S. gage. 7.5 ft 1100 cfs elf 8 ft 1350 cfs low 8.5 ft 800 cfs med 9 ft 1375 cfs med-high 9.5 ft 1950 cfs high 10 ft 2325 cfs very high 10.5 ft 2700 cfs expert   1st gauge: We painted a gauge at the Couterville Bridge  I prefer 8FT This will help you get a game plan, because just up stream 3 friggin creeks come in and can trick you, Sale Creek, Roaring Creek and McGill come in. so you want an educated guess when setting shuttle, or need to head to Richland Creek if it's below 8ft   This picture is from under the bridge on Coulterville RD.                                    This is the same gage looking at on top of the bridge, river right. You need to know this gage.                              2nd Gauge: The 2nd Gauge is at the McGill put-in ,you would like to have 1foot on the readings on the bridge, you can run it lower but it is like slam dancing with Pittsburg Steelers until you get to the gorge.We have done it a lot to stay off the Ocoee but don't say I didn't warn you. We have paddled up to 3.5ft and it can go higher , but you need to know the lines, because the eddys will be gone at a higher level.                                       Internet gauge: CLICK HERE The flavor of McGill McGill is a boat beater ,and paddle breaker the river bed is at the right angle to set you you for a smack before you realized it came up on you so fast. More than one group has hiked out, and if you need to, look on river left while in the gorge, there is an old mining road to hike out on. Some have b*tched about the 2 mile paddle in and the 2 mile paddle out of flat water. It seems most today are into instant gratification. If your are truly into creeking you will love this run. Once in the gorge it doesn't stop and you need to be in mental and physical shape and have Class V skills, At good water levels it is non-stop. McGill's Problem :(   McGill suffers from acid mine run-off and it needs some loving from the state.                             Notice the rust color to the water...lime injection would go a long way here.   The Major Rapids: Tooth-pick Once in the gorge you will come to tooth-pick, it's a little over 10 ft tall, and a river wide ledge, that you can see the bottom of it. Well this might be the most dangerous one on the river. RUN IT FAR RIVER RIGHT. On river left is a sieve that holds trees, and if you cut it out, another tree comes right back. It has messed many paddlers up and almost killed one in our group. Booger: You rock on with your paddling buddies smokin' and jokin' then the river tightens up and you are at Booger. It looks much harder than it is, but the approach is somewhat hard, and a hole can be waiting on you. The trick is to power hard with a somewhat right angle and paddle with faith. The walk is easy                                                                    Cumnock Falls     Video shot from Steep Creekin" Cumnock Falls: You will paddle just a ways and see some killer waterfalls on the left. This is your benchmark for Cumnock Falls. Cumnock Falls starts out as a narrow approach , that slides down a 60 degree slide and to a shelf that you land upon, and use to turn your boat, then accelerate out of , and run a 6 foot ledge. The rapid is good practice for Sunshine on the Green. 50-50 The next rapid  coming up is a  sticky hole that is on river right, this thing has kicked more arse than Mike Tyson. It is a narrow slot that runs into a boiling mass , than runs out to a  1/2 a boat length boil to an undercut that should be on Soddy Creek. If you have a first timer , their chance of swimming is comical, if you are in a sadistic group. We would never let them know what was coming and we would be ready for a swimmer. It was our initiation to McGill. Right before they went under we would yell "Get-u-Some!"                                                               50-50 Rapid      Video shot from Steep Creekin"                                                              At high water it is a safe bet to run river left. Scouting is prudent on the left at high water. McGill Creek Falls: Is a clean drop that is run on river left. Big Clean and Fun.   Now the run out...there might be some trees                                                                         McGill Creek Falls     Video shot from Steep Creekin"                                                                                Padder Oliver Grau         Footage from Steep Creekin                                             Footage provided by WaldensRidgeWhiteWater.com